11/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - On 31 March, the European Commission adopted a preliminary draft of the supplementary and amending budget 2003 (SAB No. 2/2003) which intends to grant the Committee of the Regions an envelope of EUR 350,000 to cover the costs of the meeting with representatives with candidate countries. The COR intends to organise the participation of 95 members from candidate countries in three of its plenary sessions beginning in July. This funding will be added to the amounts already contained in the 2003 budget for meetings with representatives from candidate countries (EUR 70,000). The Commission explains that when the preliminary draft budget for 2003 is adopted by the Community institutions in April, the Committee of the Regions "was unable to include the important request concerning the possible participation of candidate country representatives" as " the enlargement calendar had not at the time been decided and that the European Parliament had not yet decided how it intended to proceed on the issue".